Three Steps toCreating an Online Course

Creating online courses either as a freelance trainer / a training company is definitely a viable way to get known in the marketplace & garner new clients. An online course as the name suggests is — you building an interactive course on a course building platform / your website — where learners can purchase your course and learn your curriculum with the hopes of earning a certificate / just to better themselves.

Creating online courses could create an added avenue for career growth — especially if you’re HR inclined/have some knowledge / particular expertise in a chosen field.

Here are the steps on which you go about creating an Online Course:

i. Sponge Up: Before you dive in — Google + YouTube everything you can on setting up an online course. Try to find engaging blogs/vlogs that you can really relate to and follow the author’s style and replicate it to your industry. These vlogs will show you what are the best tools to use, which HD webcam you should get, what are the best podcasts you should listen to, etc. I’ll list a few of my favourites at the end of the article in the references.

ii. Write down three: Note down 3things you can teach comfortably. These could be subjects you enjoy discussing / hobbies you’ve spent a great deal of time perfecting. You may also want to include professional experiences you’ve garnered that could be of help to up-comers in your industry. You can start your course by creating an introductory video (3–5mins), then a course tour (2–3mins), then you create another 5–6modules for your course. You may also incorporate quizzes, assignments, case studies, further readings, etcetera on modules as you see fit.

iii. Learn to Market Online: Taking your course to market/marketing your course, as you will garner from your research is the second most important step after ensuring you have a very good course content. Marketing is an essential component online. I would advise utilising the marketing method you can be most consistent with. Although as you will learn from your research, there are lots of automated methods to drive traffic to your course website.

Last nugget: it is important you read the T+Cs on your course hosting platforms before hosting your courses on there. Some course hosting platforms demand exclusivity (meaning you can’t post the same/similar courses elsewhere) +/or set the price of your course themselves — which may really limit your goals. Some platforms also may not share your course attendees’ contact information with you — something to bear in mind as you take the plunge.

In conclusion — creating an online course gives you quite a bit of freedom + affords you the opportunity to reach a broader clientele that you may never get to meet. It also gives you a lot of fulfilment as you will begin to get emails on how much your clients loved your course and how it’s also helped them improve their career prospects +/or find fulfilment themselves.